Coverity, the start-up begun by ex-Stanford technies dedicated to stamping out source code bugs, is about to trade up from its old product Swat to an upgrade called Prevent and a new product called Extend that adds customization.

Veritas is using both to pinpoint defects and security vulnerabilities in mission-critical apps.

The new software reportedly reduces or eliminates crashes and performance failures caused by code lapses.

Coverity says the cost of software defects is skyrocketing, quoting an estimate from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) that poor software quality costs customers upwards of a tidy $59.5 billion a year.

Prevent finds programming errors early in the development cycle, reducing the cost of finding and fixing the darn things. It automatically analyzes millions of lines of code and follows all paths the software can take. Extend creates and enforces custom coding rules unique to different companies. Software managers can design policies especially for their own people.

The stuff works with C and C++ for FreeBSD, HP-UX, Linux and, yes, Windows.

About Maureen O'GaraMaureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara